Method of replenishing electrode waste in gas or vapor electric devices.



PATENTED SEPT. 13,1904.

P. H. THOMAS.

METHOD OF REPLENISHING ELECTRODE WASTE IN GAS 0R VAPOR ELECTRIC DEVICES.

APPLICATION TILED JUNE 22, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

Wz'inesses:

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PATENT Orricn.

PERCY H. THOMAS, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO COOPER HEWITT ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NETV YORK.

METHOD OF REPLENISHING ELECTRODE WASTE lN GAS OR VAPOR ELECTRIC DEVICES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 770,198, dated September 13, 1904..

Original application filed May 2, 1903, Serial No. 156,274.

Divided and this application filed June 22, 1903. Serial No. 162,485.

(N specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PERCY H. TI-IOMAs, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Pittsburg, county of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Replenish ing Electrode Waste in Gas or Vapor Electric Devices, of which the following is a specification.

1n gas or vapor electric devices wherein the operation includes the evaporation and condensation of the electrodes there is developed during operation a physical transfer of material fromone point to another; It becomes a feature of importance to provide means for maintaining a sufficient quantity of material in each of the electrodes, since in the absence of such means the device is liable to become inoperative, owing to the vaporizable material all being removed from one or more of the elecv except the last there shall still be a sufficient' quantity of electrode material in the last pocket for good operation, whereby any further condensation will overflow from the other pockets into the last pocket, and thereby restore the original volume of liquid or vaporizable material to the last electrode. ln realizing this arrangement in practice there is danger that a continuous metallic path will be formed by the fluid in passing from one electrode to another, thus causing a temporary short circuit between two or more of the electrodes. The present invention is designed to overcome this difficulty and is illustrated as being applied to adevice containing only two electrodes, both consisting of vaporizable material, such as mercury.

In carrying out the invention advantage is taken of the fact that what has been called a negative-electrode flame is produced in the operation of devices of this class and that when currents of considerable magnitude are passing through the apparatus a strong mechanical explosive action is produced at the point where the negative flame leaves the surface of the electrode, which action violently discharges portions of the electrode material in all directions. If now the negative electrode be so constructed and disposed that its overflow will pass into the positive electrode and if means be provided whereby the condensed material or a portion thereof (in this instance mercury) developed in the normal operation of the apparatus is returned to the negative electrode, there will in the first place be no failure in respect to a proper distribution of the electrode material, and in the second place the negative-electrode flame will discharge the mercury in small particles, and thereby prevent the formation of threads or filaments of conducting material.

The drawing herewith is a vertical section of an apparatus designed to embody the principles of this invention.

In the drawing, 1 is a suitable container, and 2 is a cooling-chamber in the form of a dome above the said container and having a tubular extension 3, which passes down into the container and is preferably located vertically over the center of the container. Below the mouth of the tube 3 I locate a cup 4, adapted to receive the negative electrode 5, which may be of mercury. A lead-wire 6 extends into the cup and forms a means of connection with the external circuit. The positive electrode 7, also of mercury or some other conducting vaporizable material, is located around the base of the cup 4 and is provided with a suitable lead-wire 8. Through some portion of the wall either of the container or of the cup I cause a tube, as 9, to be passed into negative-electrode material, the purpose being to provide means whereby what has usually been called a -starting-band or its equivalent may be properly disposed with relatation to the negative electrode. In the apparatus illustrated I may cause the said tube to dip into the mercury, as shown, and may place therein a few drops of mercury, or I may line the tube near its lower end with a metallic paint or a sheet of metal foil, such as tin-foil.

When current is applied to the apparatus thus described, vaporization of the electrode material takes place and ultimately a condensation of the vapor in the chamber 2 and on the walls of the tubular extension 3 thereof. The vapor thus condensed into the form of mercury in this instance falls by gravity down the walls of thetube 3 and drops into the cup 4, replenishing the negative-electrode should drip over the edge of the containing Vessel.

This application is a division of an application filed by me on the 2d day of May, 1903, Serial No. 1552M.

I claim as my invention The method of replenishing the waste of electrode material at the positive electrode in an apparatus of the character described. without producing short circuit, which consists in restoring the condensations or a portion thereof to the negative electrode and expelling the excess thus restored into the positive electrode by means of the negative-electrode flame.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 15th day of June, A. D. 1903.

PERCY H. THOMAS.

Witnesses:

WM. H. (JAPEL, THos. H. BROWN, Jr. 

